


Take You Kid to Work Day

by AetherBunny



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), Marvel
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:26:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23466097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherBunny/pseuds/AetherBunny
Summary: Scott gets to take his daughter Cassie for the afternoon, but is worried how the rest of his classmates will react. Needless to say everything goes better than expected.I know the game's been discontinued for years, but I'm cleaning out my finished/mostly finished fics and posting them. Thanks quarantine!
Relationships: Scott Lang/Janet Van Dyne
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Take You Kid to Work Day

**Author's Note:**

> If I remember right, I had been so close to finishing this JUST before they added Stature Cassie to the game and then debated about publishing it? And then just never did. So this has been sitting in my complete but unpublished folder for YEARS. And now it gets to see the light of day.

Scott and Janet had finished loading the rolls of fabric into her car and decided to find the popsicle cart that usually hung out somewhere in the park. As they passed the playground there was a shriek of glee followed by a blur the size of a five year old child that collided top speed with Scott's legs.

“Daddy! Daddy Daddy!”

“Hey baby girl!” He scooped her up without missing a beat. “How's my favorite person in the world?”

“The best 'cause you're here!” The little girl wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss his cheek and it gave him a chance to take in Janet's reaction. He was hoping to divulge this bit of personal information a little later on. She was clearly surprised but grinning none the less.

“Cassie, this is my friend Janet, Janet this is my daughter Cassandra.”

“Hi, are you his girlfriend?” Cassie peeled her attention away from her father for just a minute.

“Not just yet.” Janet laughed.

“Sorry, she inherited my lack filter.” He blew a raspberry on her cheek and she giggled and tried to push him away. “Is your mom here?” he asked her.

“No, I'm here with Nate and his mom.” She pointed over to a woman on a nearby bench. Scott waved and it took the woman a second before she waved back. “Do you go to super hero school with dad?” Cassie turned her attention to Janet.

“Yep!”

“You're gonna be a super hero too?”

“Yep!”

“That's cool! Daddy can you stay and play?”

“I can't Sunshine, you know mom will get mad and it will be harder for me to see you next time. You go back and play with Nate and I'll see you soon okay.”

“Okay.” She said sadly.

“Yeah, I know. But hey, I love you more than all the sand over on the playground!” He said as he set her down.

“I love you more than there are ants in the whole world!” She gave him another hug and he kissed the top of her head.

“That's a whole lot of ants! I know those ants!”

“I know!” She called as she ran back to her friend.

“Oh Scott she's so cute.” Janet took his arm.

“Isn't she?”

“You don't really get to see her do you?”

“No, her mom thinks I'm not the best influence. Let's go find those popsicles, I'll tell you all about it.”

They found the cart and a nice spot under some trees.

“Well, it shouldn't really be a surprise, but I was young and dumb once. I mean I'm still young and dumb but not AS young and dumb. Maggie and I thought we were being careful but, surprise we got Cassie. She was fine with all my bad habits- they were cool and rebellious- up until Cas was born and then she broke it off. Didn't even give me a chance. She didn't think I'd be able to provide any stability so they'd be better off without me. I've been trying so hard to prove her wrong but it's so hard to go legitimate with a rap sheet like mine. That's why I joined the Academy, I want to be the hero Cassie thinks I am. But for now I can't even see my own kid without a lawyer around.” He flopped back into the grass and threw the arm without the popsicle over his eyes.

“Scott.” Janet soothed. She couldn't imagine how he must feel. “You know,” she started “we go to school with a lawyer or two. Maybe Matt, or Jen could help? Well, Jen's on a bit of a hiatus, but Matt is practicing.”

“Murdock? The “Devil of Hell's Kitchen?” Do you think he would?” He didn't even lift his arm to look at her.

“I bet! He's a big softy really. And if we can't convince him I know someone who can.” She thought of how close he had gotten to Pepper.

“It wouldn't hurt to try right?”

“That's the spirit!”

It didn't actually take any convincing to get Matt to help them out. Scott just told him what was going on and he agreed without hesitation. Matt did a little reading, made a few phone calls, made a few more phone calls and in the end he got Scott an afternoon with his daughter. If things went well they would make another deal from there. The pair borrowed Janet's car to go pick her up. Maggie didn't look thrilled at the arrangement, but Matt quickly charmed her into accepting everything would be all right.

“You're magic.” Scott just stared at him.

“That's what Foggy says too.” Matt shrugged.

They had intended to drop Matt off back at school and spend the afternoon out, but the moment Cassie saw the arch those plans were thrown out the car window. She cut off her million questions to Matt and pressed herself against the passenger window as best she could.

“WOW Daddy, can I see your school?”

“Okay, but just for a little bit.” He caved immediately knowing if he didn't this would be all she talked about while they were out.

“Yesssss!” She hissed taking his hand and dragging him through the gate.

“Think of it this way.” Matt added adjusting his glasses. “Now you can say there was a lawyer present the whole time. Three actually.”

The pair managed to get through about a dozen rounds of “what's that” before actually coming across another student. He tried to steer her away from the arena where Tony and T'challa were training but she wouldn't be persueded. Tony noticed them first and it allowed T'challa to score a hit that knocked him flat on his ass. The Panther helped his partner up again and right away Tony turned to wave at them.

“Hello, who's this?” Tony offered her his hand for a shake right away.

“This is Cassie, my daughter.” He knew once he said it there was no taking it back.

“Oh man no way! Ah, she looks just like you. If you were blonde, and 5. I'm so excited.” He had Cassie's hand and was giving it a wiggle instead of an actual handshake. She giggled.

“What?”

“I _love_ kids but I'm really not dad material you know? But if you think for one second I haven't been waiting to be weird over-indulgent Uncle Tony to all my friends kids you're _sorely mistaken_.”

“You're not surprised?”

“Nah, I mean statistically a bunch of us should have offspring by now. And I know this is _not_ a safe job for a bunch of reasons, so yeah I get it.”

While the two of them were talking Cassie was admiring the way T'challa's claws extended from his gloves. He was letting her squeeze the pads of his hands to flex the claws like you would to a house cat. Boldly she tried to tug off a glove to see if the claws came from underneath and he unzipped a sleeve to help her accomplish her goal. She was only a little disappointed to see normal human hands underneath.

“You're not a cat.” She frowned a little causing T'challa to throw his head back and laugh. He pulled off his mask and let her see it. She put it on immediately.

“No, I'm not.” He said still laughing.

“He's not a cat but he's a prince?” Tony offered.

“A prince?” She repeated muffled from underneath his mask. “Are you gonna marry a princess?”

“Maybe.”

“Do you live in a castle?”

“Not really. It's just a big house.”

“Is it here?” She looked around, but the over-sized mask stayed mostly in place giving the effect of a bobble head.

“No, it's home in Wakanda.”

”That's in Africa!” she exclaimed, her enthusiasm wobbling the mask again. “You've got all that stuff to make Captain America's shield. It's the most tech'nlogically avanced country in the world!”

“We do, I'm impressed! Did you learn all this in school?”

“Daddy got me picture 'cyclopedias for Christmas! Can I see the shiny parts?” She pointed at the ring of claws around the neck of his suit.

“Sure come here.” T'challa picked her up and she inspected the golden fixtures.

“You never stood a chance.” Scott laughed as he clapped Tony on the back.

“I'm jealous but I'm not surprised. He IS the coolest. But I can win her back! I have something no kid can resist!” Scott expected something much different than sandwiches. But soon the four of them were munching away on some (honestly pretty delicious) grilled cheeses.

“You made them without me again!” They could hear Janet before they saw her. “Cassie! Hi!”

“Hi Janet, you can have some of mine?” She held out an un-bitten triangle of grilled cheese from her spot between Scott and T'challa.

“That's so sweet of you, but Tony still owes me a sandwich from last time!” She lifted the brim of Scott's hat to kiss the top of his head before turning to lean on Tony's counter top.

“See I knew you'd magically sense I had the grill going so yours is done right now. Granny smith thinly sliced, cheddar extra sharp.” Tony passed her a plate and got a kiss on the cheek in return. T'challa looked mock offended and got himself a kiss.

“Me too!” Cassie tipped her chin up and scrunched her face.

“Of course.” Janet giggled. She sat next to Scott who gave her a kiss back.

“Now everybody has a kiss and a sandwich!” Scott nodded.

“That’s all you need sometimes.” Tony nodded. They ate and chit chatted, mostly Cassie continuing her endless stream of questions. Despite the top notch cheese she was still completely enamored with the very patent Wakandan Prince beside her.

“Well I hate to eat and run, but I actually have work I have to do.”

“Prince things or homework?” Cassie asked.

“Prince things this time.” She shook her head and he laughed. T'challa returned his plate. “I'd much rather stay if it makes any difference!” Cassie pouted a little. “Don't be sad, you can come and visit me any time. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures when I go back home for next time.” He crouched down for a hug and she wrapped his arms around his neck.

“Okay.”

“Be good for your dad and Janet.” T'challa gave Tony as smirk over her shoulder.

“I will!” She called as he left.

“So what are you two going to do for the rest of the day?” Janet asked.

“Daddy can I PLEASE see more of your school? Cassie melodramatically threw herself into Scott's lap.

“Well I thought we might go to the aquarium but it looks like we might stick around here instead.”

“Yesss! Can you guys come too?” Cassie looked to Tony and Janet. Tony looked like he was going to agree before coming to some sort of conclusion.

“I think I have some very boring very long work to to at the lab actually. I think I'm going to need lots of help from Pym...” He trailed off hoping the older pair would get his drift. Luckily they caught on.

“Oh, yes that experiment. That should keep him busy for hours.” Scott relaxed after having a problem solved just like that. _Thank you_ , he mouthed at Tony on their way out and Stark gave a thumbs up in response. Of course Hank knew about his Cassie, but the longer he could keep her away from him the better. The last thing he needed was for there to be some sort of questionable science happening near his daughter.

From there Cassie had a blast playing hide and seek on Steve's obstacle course with Doreen and about a dozen squirrels. Then they admired the ornate Asguardian artwork on the Bifrost dome. They did bump into Loki who seemed unusually patient and gracious with the little girl. He even bent down so she could look at his helmet up close. If Scott didn't know any better he'd say the god might have been enjoying himself. (Later Janet would tell him she found out from Sif Loki had couple of slightly unorthodox children of his own.)

Loki even walked with them as far as it took to run into Peter Quill who was more than happy to let Cassie sit in the cockpit of the Milano. They both wanted to take a small joyride but Scott convinced them to wait for another day. Peter promised to bring back a cool (safe) space rock next time he was out.

Scott had relaxed considerably. He had been worried about his classmates finding out his little secret but so far it was going even better than expected. Then:

“SPIDER MAN!” Cassie was off towards a slightly stunned Peter Parker who was not even in red or blue that day.

“Um, yeah? Hi there!” Peter had gotten much more comfortable with his whole secret identity thing, at least while he was on campus. “How could you tell?”

“Because!” She responded with an enthusiastic hand gesture, as though it should be obvious.

“Sorry Peter, I have no idea how she knows half the things she does.” Scott offered as he caught up to his daughter. For her part Cassie was now behind her father's legs. “Now you're shy? You're never shy, where did my Sassy Cassie go?”

“Daddy!” She pushed her face into her father's hip in embarrassment.

“I can go?” Peter offered.

“No.” She sort of shouted.

“She's your biggest fan, I swear!” When Scott tried to move out of her grip she just darted behind Janet instead.”She has a stuffed bear she's named after you.”

“Really?” Peter's face lit up.

“Where is Spider-Bear anyway?”

“At home!” Cassie hissed.

“I had a stuffed dog named Woofles. Like waffles but not really. He's back at my house too.” Peter offered. Cassie did not move from behind Janet.

“Cassie do you want to ask if Peter would take a picture with you?” Janet asked gently. Cassie gave a tiny nod.

“I'd love to! Here, hang on a sec!” He fished around in his bag for his camera. “I can develop them myself and drop them off after class!”

“That would be great Pete thanks!” Scott scooped up his daughter to soothe her nerves for the photo.

“Scoot in a little more, there we go!” Janet snapped a few nice photos. “Now a silly one! Perfect!”

“Now with Janet!” Cassie called, feeling a little bolder than before.

“Sure!” Pete traded places with his classmate and took a couple of photos of the trio. “I can get these to you in no time!”

“No rush, I'm sure Cassie would be happy to have you drop them off later on if you needed to.” Scott gave him a wink.

“Ah ha, we could arrange for that!” He agreed as he tucked his camera away.

“And don't worry she's really good about secret identities,”

“I guess it comes with the whole family thing huh?” From there Peter wished them a good afternoon and headed off to do homework.

“Wow Cass, you've met your favorite super hero, what are you going to do now?” Scott asked his daughter still in his arms. “Will you have to find a new one?"

“I can have more than one favorite!” She informed him.

“You have more than one favorite now?”

“Yep!”

“Who is the other one?”

“Black Panther!”

“I'm not surprised.”

“And Daredevil, and Iron Man, and Squirrel Girl, and Loki, and Star Lord.”

“I'm also not surprised!”

“Janet is my favorite Janet. The library has a Miss Janet, but you are best.”

“Yess!” She cheered.

“Hey, what about me?”

“You're my favorite dad, duh!”

“Oh good, I was getting worried for a minute there. So what do you want to see now? The academic buildings aren't very exciting I guess. We could go see if there was anybody in the park?”

“Okay!” Cassie settled her chin on her dad's shoulder content to be carried there.

“Who's the little cutie-pie? Could it be a mini-Lang?” Greer was sunning herself on a bench and watching a flock of birds chatter away in the trees. “It IS a mini-Lang!”

“Are you really a cat or are you like T'challa?” Cassie asked as Scott put her down, she would not be fooled again.

“Really a cat, wanna see?” She held out her hand. Cassie took it and immediately began admiring her fur. “Yep, there are lots of cat heroes here, I mean a lot. We have a club. But I'm the only real cat person!”

“Wow!” Cassie gave a small hushed whisper. Greer's smile grew as the little girl beside her discovered her tail.

“I'm gonna just borrow your kid Scott. I want something cute to spoil something rotten and Steve gets all weird when I try it on him.”

“Her mother would kill me.” He just imagined Maggie's response. “I can feel her wanting to kill me already.”

“Just once in a while, I don't know if I can have my own yet. Besides it's not like you didn't know what you were getting yourself into bringing her here. I bet Tony flipped.”

“He did.” Janet gave a conspiratorial nod, Greer pointed her direction as emphasis to Scott.

“Look at it this way, now she has a like two dozen over protective aunts and uncles to look after her! You'll never not have babysitters. I can think of a handful of people right off the bat. People even the most over protective of mothers would still approve of. After that there is a tier of weird but _definitely_ protective options.

“Mother approved? In this place?”

“Um, well Patsy for one. She's like something right out of a middle school novel series. Gwen, MJ, Kamala, Brian, Sam, Phil...”

“Okay okay you're right. I just worry that's all.”

“That just means you're a good dad. I mean, most of us could call ourselves _heroes_ and you're our friend, and now Cassie's our friend. And kids should experience all kinds of stuff.” She tipped her head in the direction of Cassie who had now her tail wrapped around her shoulders. “You are probably keeping her away from Pym, _I_ would, no offense-” Scott shrugged. “-But have you bumped into, um, well, _you know who_ yet? I've seen her on campus today.”

“Oh!” Janet caught on a little quicker. “No, we haven't! It'll go okay though. Right? We might not even run into her?” Now the light went on in Scott's head. Stinger. Cassie, _other_ Cassie. She tended to avoid him if she could so sometimes he forgot she was around. Now he was panicking. “Oh!” a second little gasp came from Janet and there she was. Like she was summoned to the park. To be fair she was with Kate and Lucky but the coincidence was not in their favor. Kate, to her credit, caught on like lightning and had Lucky's collar before he could dash towards them. Other Cassie was still.

“Uhh, we'll just give you guys a minute?” Greer usually avoided Lucky on principal but she and Kate headed off to somewhere else leaving the strange little paradox to work things out for themselves. Little Cassie figured something was up and looked between her dad and Janet for a cue. Finally Janet waved her over.

“I didn't know?” She said quietly.

“Nobody did.” Scott shrugged. Big Cassie sat down with them but remained quiet. Janet stepped in again.

“Cassie, her name's Cassie too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” The older Cassie spoke up.

“All the way Cassandra?” Little Cassie asked.

“All the way Cassandra.”

“Like twins!”

“Yeah kiddo, something like that.”

“You’re a super hero too right?”

“Yep!” Big Cassie was warming up to the situation just a little.

“I'm not a super hero, but maybe some day? Right daddy?” She tugged off his hat and plopped it on her own head.

“We'll talk about it after high school, how's that Peanut?”

“I don't know if I can wait fifty years!” She tried to shake his shoulders, but she just wobbled the brim of the hat down her own face.

“Is that how long it takes? Fifty years?”

“Yeah! You're like ninety!”

“Good thanks, here I thought I wasn't even thirty yet.”

“Thirty? You're still old!” Cassie tried to give him a shake again.

“That's it, no more piggy back rides for you missy!”

“Huuuuuuuhhhh.”

“Is it weird?” Janet asked quietly as little Cassie tried to push her dad over into the grass.

“I thought I had stopped thinking things were weird a while ago, but I was wrong. I thought I was over... things? But I guess I was wrong there too.”

“You don't have to stick around, I just thought I looked like you wanted to come over.” Janet gave her an out.

“I do, I did. I miss all of this? _My_ dad was... I just don't know what to do now that I'm over here?”

“We've just been going with the flow. What do you remember liking at that age?”

“God, I was such a weird little kid. I was into like, everything. I don't think you could do better than running around in a school full of super heroes. If Luna didn't have DD out for the day an actual living dinosaur would take the cake.” They watched the pair play fighting for a minute or two.

“I didn't know that Scott had a daughter at all until a week or so ago. We ran into her at the park with one of her friends. After that he told me everything. Things are different in this world, or dimension or timeline or whatever. But, he said after his Cassie was born his girlfriend broke up with him, she said he wasn't fit to be a dad. They were both 18, but it was so hard for him to get a decent job to be supportive. He had already been in and out of detention facilities for a couple of years. Hank had visited him a few years before, but he didn't start taking the Ant-Man thing really seriously until she came along. He said she had heart problems and they didn't really have the money to take care of it. He thought about just stealing it but he'd wind up in prison and he'd definitely never get to see her again, so he tried to make the best of it on his own as a super hero. Luckily Hank stepped back in, and then Fury. It's much easier with friends.”

“I think, this time things are going to turn out better.” Adult Cassie smiled at the younger versions of herself and her dad.

“I think so too.” Janet agreed.

__

At the end of their afternoon Scott, Cassie and Matt made their way back to Maggie's apartment. Somewhere along the way Cassie had fallen asleep in the back seat against Matt who was able to gently get her out of the car when they reached their destination. He held onto her long enough to pass her to Scott.

“You guys must have had a busy day?” Maggie was surprised.

“A little bit I guess?” Scott wasn't sure how much of their day he wanted to share. He'd leave that up to Cas.

“How was she?” Maggie asked as she took her sleeping daughter in her arms.

“The best ever, you can ask Matt.”

“Good as gold ma'm.” he waved at her from where he was leaning against the car.

“That's good, maybe you can take her again next month.”

“I can't think of anything I'd like more.” Scott was surprised to hear.

–

A week later there was a knock at the door. Maggie was more than a little surprised to see a local super hero at her door.

“Hi ma'm I'm uh- Spider-Man, and I have something for Cassie?” he held out an envelope.

“She's at her friend's”

“Aw, dang. Well can you give these to her for me?” he waved the envelope a little.

“Sure?” she took the envelope.

“Cool, thanks! Uh, stay out of danger, and um, be a good citizen!” He waved before making little effort to leap to the awning on the neighboring building. Truly curious Maggie opened the envelope had addressed to her daughter. Inside was a few photographs she guessed was from her day out. Some of Cassie, Scott and a dark haired guy with glasses she guessed was a classmate. Cassie and the guy making silly faces. Cas, Scott and a short dark haired girl. One of the three of them making silly faces.

The last one was a candid shot, Cassie ecstatic holding Scott’s hands looking up at him. Scott had his mouth open, and looked mid sentence. The dark-haired girl was looking very fondly at both of them.

Maggie had always been worried about letting Cassie too much into her father’s world. But maybe just maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as she thought it would be.

**Author's Note:**

> Look MCU Scott is the best dad, so I made AvAc Scott the best dad too.
> 
> I kinda miss this trainwreck of a game. Anybody else?
> 
> You can now visit me on a sideblog on tumblr as Aetherbunny of course. Feel free to say hello! or ask questions or perhaps buy me a kof fi if you know what I mean?


End file.
